Hey y’all! It’s bread making day here on the farm! For a long time I have felt overwhelmed by virtually anything and everything in the kitchen, so the thought of making bread every week seemed drudgerous! Knowing I needed to shift my mindset, I set a goal to slowly incorporate new skills into my weekly routine and bread making was one of them. After researching and some experimenting I finally created a recipe that was both simple and delicious! Using recipes I found online I omitted and changed a few things to make the recipe I am sharing today.
Items you will need:
2 large mixing bowls
Mixing utensil (or dough hook attachment if using a stand mixer)
2 bread pans (8 or 9 inches)
Ingredients:
2 cups Warm Water (about 100° F)
2 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Active Dry Yeast
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tsp Salt
5 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour + some for working surface
1/2 cup Nonfat Dry Milk
2 tbsp Melted Butter
Steps:
1. In large mixing bowl add warm water, honey, and active dry yeast. Gently combine and set aside for about 10-15 minutes. The yeast will appear frothy when it is activated.
2. Add oil, salt, and 2 cups of flour to the activated yeast and mix well, if you have a stand mixer use the dough hook attachment. Add the dry milk and an additional 3 cups of flour. Mix until dough is stiff. If needed, you can add a little more flour, but just enough so that the dough is no longer sticky.
3. Lightly flour your working surface. Turn the mixing bowl over and drop the dough onto your working surface. Dust your hands with flour and knead the dough until it becomes springy
4. Generously grease a clean mixing bowl with oil or butter and then place the dough inside it, turning it over once to allow the oil to coat the dough. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set aside. Allow the dough to rise for 1-2 hours. You want the dough to roughly double in size.
5. Once the dough has risen, punch it down in the middle. Remove from bowl and knead the dough on a lightly floured surface again. Divide the dough into two equal pieces, place them back into the bowl, cover, and allow to rise for another 15 minutes.
6. Generously grease two bread pans with oil or butter. Roll each piece of dough into a ball and place one in each bread pan. Lightly flatten the dough inside the pan.
7. Generously brush the top of the dough with the melted butter, allowing some of the butter to spill over the sides of the dough. Cover the bread pans with clean kitchen towel and allow to rise for 45min-1 hour.
9. Preheat oven to 375°F
10. Place bread pans into oven and cook for 25-30 minutes. The bread should be lightly browned and if you flick the top of the loaf it should sound hollow.
11. Flip the loafs out of the bread pans and place the loafs on a cooling racks.
12. Enjoy!
I hope you try this recipe and let me
know how it works! Oh, and don’t forget to enjoy some warm homemade bread with butter and/or jam as a delicious treat for all your hard work!!